More Montreal-Style Bagels Descend on Brooklyn

Is two a trend? It sure seemed so this weekend, when, on the walk from Brooklyn Heights to nearby Mile End in Boerum Hill, we passed the signs for a “Bagels and Bakery Empire” in the old walk-in medical clinic on Atlantic Avenue at Clinton Street. One flyer advertised “Montreal-style bagels, freshly baked in a wood-fired brick oven,” which is different from Mile End’s strategy of trucking the smaller, denser bagels down from Canada. In addition to bagels, the Empire promises “organic, healthy food,” coffee and tea, “gourmet breads, cakes, and croissants,” and the “best American, European, and Asian recipes, including open fire cuisine.” Huh. So are restaurants that try to put every trend under one roof another new trend?